GAP

The Origin

The Gap, Inc., commonly known as Gap Inc. or Gap, (stylized as GAP) is an American worldwide clothing and accessories retailer. It is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

Doris and Don Fisher opened the first Gap store in 1969. The reason was simple. Don could not find a pair of jeans that fit. They never expected to transform retail. But they did.

‘The Gap’ was a reference to the generation gap.

Brand Development

The couple opened the first store on Ocean Avenue in San Francisco on August 21, 1969. In 1970, Gap opened its second store in San Jose, California. In 1971, Gap established its corporate headquarters in Burlingame, California with four employees. By 1973, the company had over 25 locations and had expanded into the East Coast market with a store in the Echelon Mall in Voorhees, New Jersey. In 1974, Gap began to sell private-label merchandise. In 1976, the company went public, offering 1.2 million shares of stock. The following year in 1977, Gap Inc. established a non-profit charitable arm, Gap Foundation.

Banana Republic was acquired by the Gap Inc. in 1983. In 1986, the first Gap Kids store was inaugurated in San Mateo, CA. The company’s first store outside of US was opened in London in the year 1987.

Gap Inc. subsidiary Old Navy was born in 1994 with a store in Colma, CA. In the year 1997, the company went digital debuting online shopping. In 2008, Gap acquired sportswear brand Athleta. Gap opened its first store in China in 2010, acquiring Intermix three year later in 2013.

Gap Inc. owns a trademark to its name, “Gap”. The Gap’s original trademark was a service mark for retail clothing store services. The application was filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office on February 29, 1972, by The Gap Stores; registration was granted on October 10, 1972. The first use of the trademark was on August 23, 1969, and expanded to commercial usage on October 17, 1969. A second application was filed by Gap Stores, Inc. on September 12, 1974, this time for a trademark filed for shirts. The first usage for shirts and clothing products was on June 25, 1974. Trademark registration was granted on December 28, 1976. Both the service mark and trademark are registered and owned by Gap (Apparel), LLC of San Francisco, California. On October 4, 2010, in an effort to establish a contemporary presence, Gap introduced a new logo. It was designed with the Helvetica font and reduced the prominence of the brand’s iconic blue box. After much public outcry, the company reverted to its previous “blue box” logo on October 12, after less than a week in use. Marka Hansen, the executive who oversaw the logo change, resigned February 1, 2011.

Gap operates company-owned stores in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Indonesia, Japan, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Mexico as of May 2016; it also has franchise agreements with unaffiliated franchisees to operate Gap, Banana Republic, or Old Navy stores in 43 countries. As of May 2016, Gap Inc. operates 3,727 company-owned and franchise locations. In January 2008, Gap signed a deal with Marinopoulos Group to open Gap and Banana Republic stores in Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, Cyprus, and Croatia. In February 2009, Elbit Imaging, Ltd. secured a franchise to open and operate Gap and Banana Republic stores in Israel. In August 2010, the company opened its first store in Melbourne, Australia at Chadstone Shopping Centre. In September 2011, Komax opened the first Gap store in Chile, due to a franchise. In October 2011, the first GAP store opened in Warsaw, Poland, but shut it down and two other locations in Wrocław and Katowice in 2015. Gap now has a store in New Delhi, India which opened in May 2015. On February 20, 2016, Gap launched stores in Mumbai at Oberoi Mall and Infinity-2.

Communication

The Gap originally targeted the younger generation when it opened, with its name referring to the generation gap of the time. It originally sold everything that Levi Strauss & Co made in every style, size, and colour, and organized the stock by size. The Gap was the first of many shops that carried only Levi’s. In 1973, Gap started making their own jeans as a way to differentiate themselves from department stores. Gap’s current marketing works to appeal to a broad demographic of customers, whereas Banana Republic presents a sophisticated image and Old Navy focuses “fun, fashion, and value” for families and younger customers.

Current Situation

The company operates five primary divisions: Gap (the namesake banner), Banana Republic, Old Navy, Intermix, Weddington Way, and Athleta. Gap Inc. is the largest specialty retailer in the United States, and is 3rd in total international locations, behind Inditex Group and H&M.

As of the end of Q4 2017, Gap Inc. had 3,594 company-operated or franchised stores in operation across 46 countries and had the ability to ship to 90 countries. Stores in Brazil, Canada, China, France, Italy, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, UK, and US (including Puerto Rico) are company-owned; those outside of these countries are owned and operated by franchises.

The company closed 2017 with a turnover of 15.855 billion US dollars.

Arthur Peck was named the company CEO in February 2015 and he continues.